I was just thinking the same! Somehow, almost all the pics I've seen coming from republican-supported initiatives are only representing white people.

Well, clearly, people of color don't know how to properly appreciate guns. Because white folks with guns are simply exercising their second amendment rights. Non-white people with guns are criminals, so we don't want to show pictures of them.

Of course I say that very tongue in cheek, but sadly I know there are plenty of people who see the world that way.

and why do these people think that talking about controlling/banning semi-automatic weapons means that all guns are going to be banned?

I just want to clear this up a little. "Semi-automatic" is a pretty broad term that could be applied to nearly any modern handgun, rifle, and some shotguns. In its loosest definition, this would mean banning pretty much any firearm that is magazine fed, and maybe even double action revolvers. That would apply to a vast majority of firearms in circulation today. To most gun owners, that is close enough to banning every gun.

Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2011 11:51 amPosts: 8120Location: United States of New England

brian wrote:

LisaPunk wrote:

and why do these people think that talking about controlling/banning semi-automatic weapons means that all guns are going to be banned?

I just want to clear this up a little. "Semi-automatic" is a pretty broad term that could be applied to nearly any modern handgun, rifle, and some shotguns. In its loosest definition, this would mean banning pretty much any firearm that is magazine fed, and maybe even double action revolvers. That would apply to a vast majority of firearms in circulation today. To most gun owners, that is close enough to banning every gun.

duly noted. i had no idea what it actually meant so i was thinking a handgun and a rifle was different!

and why do these people think that talking about controlling/banning semi-automatic weapons means that all guns are going to be banned?

I just want to clear this up a little. "Semi-automatic" is a pretty broad term that could be applied to nearly any modern handgun, rifle, and some shotguns. In its loosest definition, this would mean banning pretty much any firearm that is magazine fed, and maybe even double action revolvers. That would apply to a vast majority of firearms in circulation today. To most gun owners, that is close enough to banning every gun.

duly noted. i had no idea what it actually meant so i was thinking a handgun and a rifle was different!

thanks for the explanation.

Semi-automatic basically indicates that the gun doesn't have to be cocked/charged/pumped etc between bullets. Each time you pull the trigger, a round is fired, without other action being necessary. Short of revolvers and single shot/black powder rifles and shotguns, most guns these days are semi-automatic.

A semi-automatic, or self-loading, firearm is a weapon that performs all steps necessary to prepare the weapon to fire again after firing—assuming cartridges remain in the weapon's feed device or magazine. Typically, this includes extracting and ejecting the spent cartridge case from the weapon's firing chamber, re-cocking the firing mechanism, and loading a new cartridge into the firing chamber. Although automatic weapons and selective fire firearms do the same tasks, semi-automatic firearms do not automatically fire an additional round until the trigger is released and re-pressed by the person firing the weapon.

This is not intended to be a knock on anyone on this forum, but one of the big problems in having an informed discussion on gun control is that there are a lot of people that try to argue with pro-gun folks without understanding the terminology. As with any discussion/debate, knowing the proper terminology is a necessary foundation to have before pushing for one thing or another or the discussion tends to get mired in semantics.

One of the most frequently cited red herrings the pro-gun folks love to use, is the AK-47/Assault weapon label that so many in the media put on virtually any weapon that is larger than a hand gun and is used in a crime; there is a pretty big technological difference between an Assault Rifle (generally categorizing a fully automatic weapon - pull the trigger and until you release it will fire until it runs out of ammo, very quickly in most cases) and a semi-automatic rifle. A semi-automatic rifle like the AR-15 may look like the same weapons the US military uses (M16 and M4), and if the mechanics are modified-can function in the same way, but in its off the shelf state, it has the same basic capabilities as the various hunting rifles that fail to get the same hype from the media when used in a crime.

Well, we do have a ton of days that celebrate a ton of things, like a National Donut Day or whatever. i don't actually know if that exists, but its likely. Lets see what google has to say...http://lmgtfy.com/?q=national+doughnut+day Yup, first friday in June.

_________________Evolved a vascular system, so I went from bryophyte to lycophyte.

Well, we do have a ton of days that celebrate a ton of things, like a National Donut Day or whatever. i don't actually know if that exists, but its likely. Lets see what google has to say...http://lmgtfy.com/?q=national+doughnut+day Yup, first friday in June.

I'm celebrating this from now on. Fortunately I have 6 months to decide what kind of donuts to make!

I'm such a paranoid person in general and really I get that. I was thinking about the 'fun' of shooting a gun. Last year or the year before, my husband mentioned that his team was looking into going to a shooting range (the team is 99.9999% male and the head of team is from somewhere that is very gun friendly). I felt nervous about the idea but told my husband it was up to him and I looked into the safety of shooting guns at shooting ranges and there have even been a number of deaths/shootings due to that! I mean I guess I didn't understand the point of putting yourself at risk to shoot at a target. In the end, apparently there wasn't enough interest and the idea fizzled.

I should also say that my stepfather's job for many years was to train military types how to shoot so he spent years on ranges. He survived. We also had guns in our house due to him. It never made me feel comfortable and ugh I have stories about him but that is a different issue.

_________________You are all a disgrace to vegans. Go f*ck yourselves, especially linanil.